The Black Hound
Der Swartz Hunde - The Black Hound Description: Aspects: *Heidelberg Fenching Champion 3 years running. *Country Man - Knight of the Rheinland *Cavalryman *Flying Ace Takes Jack *Zepellin King *Mechanical Maestro *The Bomber of the Dead *The Electro-Techie *The Swordsman *Big White Hunter Skills: *Superb - Weapons (Fencing) *Great - Pilot, Engineer *Good - Survival (covers riding and hunting), Guns, Science *Fair - Drive, Rapport, Athletics, Endurance *Average - Academics, Intimidate, Alertness, Resources, Fists *Mediocre - Art, Burglary, Contacting, Deceit, Empathy, Gambling, Investigation, Leadership, Might, Mysteries, Resolve, Sleight of Hand, Stealth Languages: German, English Stunts: *Pilot: **Personal Aircraft - Zepellin *Weapons: **Flawless Parry **Turn-around *Engineering **Mister Fix-it **Architect of Death Background: Raised in the lush German Countryside, he was the son of wealthy nobility, and attended the finest of all schools. The Heidelberg Academy, where he rose to be the most skilled fencer in his year. Freitag Leopold Maximillian von Loringhoffen hails from the town of Braubach in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis of the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km southeast of Koblenz. Braubach has assorted medieval architecture, including portions of the town wall, half-timbered buildings, and castle Marksburg on the hill above, which is the Von Loringhoffen ancestral seat. Unfortunately the family can no longer afford to maintain it, and his father, Maximillian Rheinhold Joachim Von Loringhoffen, has moved into a town house, and rents the castle to visiting American tourists. He has maintained the vinyards, however. In the Great War he began as a cavalryman as fit his social status, but as the Cavalry experienced the horrors of artillery, he found a new role in the cavalry of the skies and became a great and daring pilot. During the height of the war, he crossed wings with an even more skilled British Pilot, but the superior German engineering of his biplane allowed him to fight his English rival to a draw. Eventually both planes were wrecked and they met in the middle of no-mans land, where they duelled with saber, pistol and bare hands for hours. Eventually they rested and shared some water. When Artillery rained down near them, they sheltered together. Eventually they set aside their differences and struck out to find shelter. Finding the German lines first, The Hound took Lionheart back to his home and treated him to wine until he could safely be returned home. Once the war ended they met up and renewed a fine friendship. Novel: The Black Hound and the Sky Men of Dr Volt The Hound was approached by the eccentric Doctor Volt. He promised enough money to restore the Hound's family fortune which had evapourated in the aftermath of the Great War in exchange for a single dangerous but very lucrative job. He had created an Electronic Aether-Extraction device. The device was so large that it needed four dirigibles to be put together in order to raise it above the ground. Such weight meant that only peerless pilots could avoid a disastrous collision. Their plan was to use to device to strip the many small gold mines in the rain-forests of their gold in a matter of days. However the device caused wild fires and death to any people who were below it at the time. So The Black Hound lept into action. He sent a message to The famous media darling, the Scarlet Pen, who discovered that the proposed route would take the dirigible fleet over one of the largest native settlements in Africa, the only man she knew in the area was the world famous anthropologist and historian Dr Maxwell, who she contacted by wireless. He managed to rouse the natives to oppose the Sky Men of Dr Volt to provide the distraction that The Black Hound so desperately needed. Meanwhile he also called for the aid of his greatest rival, Lord Lionheart. When in possition, The Hound placed his dirigible under the watchful eye of an artificial pilot he had constructed and moved along the cables toward the device suspended many hundreds of feet above the immense forest. The Doctors loyal force of Sky-Men and their magnetic repulsion belts would have been able to stop him, had Lord Lionheart and the Natives of the forest been able to attack the dirigible fleet. As the dirigibles moved haphazardly, they threatened to plunge the Hound to his Death, but among the cables, he found Dr Volt and was able to diable the infernal device, which cut the power to Dr Volt's own method of levitation causing himself and his Sky-Men to plumett to their dooms. NPCs: *His Faithful Hound, Rotfang. Brunhilde and her crew Freitag's airship the Brunhilde is lavishly equipped for high adventure. She has a large Gondola featuring the Bridge, a well equipped galley, a luxurious lounge (with a cocktail bar, piano, gramophone, fine sofas and dining table - decorated to resenble a hunting lodge), map & observation room, staterooms (one entirely for Freitag's wardrobe & kit),the engine roon, an engineering workshop, a cargo bay, sauna, plus a sky-dock for two aircraft, and a small cinama/theatre, a gun/tack room,a well equipped garage housing a Steyr Type VI automobile, and two Zundapp Z22 motorcyles, with sidecars that can be fitted, if required, and a sick-bay. The gondola also features a walkway and balcony that surrounds the whole exposed section of the gondola (there are two twin maxims that can be mounted on sliding scarff rings. Atop the dirigible section is a sun deck, with railings, which can be used to take a stroll, fencing practice, some other exercise, or to indulge in a spot of clay pigeon-shooting, or pic-nic. Similar weapons can be mounted here as on the lower balcony. Aside from Rotfang, there are four crew on Brunhulde, Caprice De Soto, Elizabeth Fogg, Marlene Fiegelein and Heinrich. Caprice De Soto is an American Aviatrix; a capable pilot as well as an accomplished artist who excells at painting peotry and performace art. Elizabeth Fogg is the daughter of the famous Balloonaut Fineas Fogg, a passable flyer and competent engineer and expert in dirigible technology, who assists Freitag in looking after Brunhilde Marlene Fiegelein is Brunhilde's co-pilot and assistant navigator, as well as being an excellent pianist, singer and dancer. Heinrich is the go-for guy on Brunhilde, as well keeping the cocktail bar, he is an excellent chef, but also is the streetwise scrounger and getaway driver in many of Freitag's adventures.